Dispensing container for pills and the like



M. GREEN ET AL DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR PILLS AND THE LIKE Filed March 14 1957 INVENTCRS.

MAAT/A/ WEE/v BY MOA ro/v H/ll. I W

DISPENSING CONTAINER FOR PILLS AND THE LIKE Martin Green, Margate, and Morton Hill, Ventnor, NJ.

Application March 14, 1957, Serial No. 646,025

3 Claims. (Cl. 222-212) This invention relates generally to dispensing containers for pills, medicinal capsules, and the like.

The particular embodiment of the present invention, which is illustrated in the drawings and which will be described hereinafter in greater detail, comprises generally a body of resiliently yieldable material formed with an internal cavity for containing a quantity of pills, and provided with a passageway or opening from the cavity which is normally of a size and configuration as to prevent the movement therethrough of one of said pills, and is adapted to be deformed by the exertion of pressure on the body into a size and configuration capable of successively passing said pills.

As is well known, the presence of conventionally packed medicines in a household having young children of normal curiosity is of great potential danger. As such dangers are too often realized, it has been attempted to provide medicine containers and closures therefor which rendered children safe from curious investigation. However, such devices were unsatisfactory in many respects. For example, prior safety-type pill containers often required extra operations inadvertently forgotten, which operations were frequently too difficult for persons of average skill; and, prior safety containers were subject to wear and consequent malfunctioning.

It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide a dispensing container for pills and the like which overcomes the above mentioned difficulties, being extremely simple and foolproof in use and still incapable of operation by small children.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a device of the type described having the advantageous characteristics mentioned in the preceding paragraphs, which is extremely simple in construction, having no parts subject to wear, which is entirely reliable in use, and capable of being manufactured and sold at reasonable cost.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following specification and referring to the accompanying drawings, which form a material part of this disclosure.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangements of parts, which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope will be indicated by the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view showing a dispensing container constructed in accordance with the 1 present invention, taken substantially along the line 1-1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an end view of the device of Figures 1 and 2, taken from the top end with the closure removed, and the device in its normal, undistorted condition; and

Figure 4 is an end view similar to Figure 3, but illustrating the device in its distorted, dispensing condition.

States Patent ternal configuration. The body 11 is advantageously fabricated of polyethylene plastic, or other suitable material having the yieldable resilient characteristics of polyethylene.

The body 11 is formed with an internal cavity 12 which extends inward through one end 13 of the body, the lower end in the drawings, and tapers or decreases in cross sectional configuration away from the end 13. That is, the cavity 12 is formed in the body 11 adjacent to the body end 13, opening through the latter body end, and converges funnel-like longitudinally inward of the body terminating at a medial region 14 spaced from the other or upper body end 15. As may be discerned from both Figures 1 and 2, the body cavity 12 terminates at its inner end 14 in a transversely elongate cross sectional configuration defining a slot-like opening.

Extending longitudinally of the body 11 inward through the upper body end 15 is a cavity 18 which also converges or tapers inwardly and terminates in a transversely elongate, slot-like opening 19. More specifically, the body cavity 18 terminates at its inner end adjacent to and just short of the cavity 12 with the opening 19 being in adjacent aligned relation with the opening 14. An internal passageway 20 extends between the openings '14 and 19, so as to communicate with and open into the cavities 12 and 13. If desired, the cavities 12 and 18 may terminate at their inner ends at a single opening, rather than the respective openings 14 and 19, in which case the single opening will define the passageway 20. Stated otherwise, the passageway 20 may be interpreted as defined by a single opening or port communicating between adjacent regions of the cavities 12 and 18.

It will now be understood that the body 11 is formed with a somewhat hourglass-like internal configuration, wherein the cavities 12 and 18 converge in the direction toward each other terminating at their adjacent ends in the passageway 20, which may be considered as slot-like or oblate configuration, elongate transverse of the body.

As the body 11 is fabricated of resiliently yieldable material, pressure applied radially inward against the external surface 16 of the body in the direction of the arrows j in Figure 1 will serve to deform the body and its passageway 20. More specifically, force applied in the direction of the arrows f in the medial region of the body 11 adjacent to opposite ends of the normally elongate passageway 20, will serve to deform the passageway from its slot-like configuration to a round, more open configuration, as seen in Figure 4. The function of this characteristic will be described hereinafter in greater detail.

Secured across the lower open end 13 of the body 11, so as to close the lower end opening of the cavity 12, is a closure disc 23. The closure 23 may be fixedly secured, as by sealing or other suitable means, in its closing relation with respect to the lower end of cavity 12.

The external surface 16 of the body 11 may be formed with screw threads 24 adjacent to the body end at 15; and, a closure cap 25 may be removably secured by the screw threads across the body end 15 in closing relation with respect to the cavity 18. That is, the closure cap 25 is removably engaged over the upper body end to selectively open and close the cavity 18. Obviously, other types of closure caps may be employed in place of the cap 25, if desired.

A quantity of pills 27 are illustrated as contained within the cavity 12, resting on the bottom wall thereof defined by the closure disc 23 when the body is in the illustrated upright condition. While the pills are shown as being of spherical configuration, pills of elongate, disc-like or other shapesmay also be employed. It is only necessary that the passageway or opening 20 communicating between the cavities 12 andv 18 have its smallest dimension, namely itsfwidth, less thanthefsmallest dimension of the inbefore, sufiiciently to increase the width of passageway 2010a width greater than the smallest dimension of the pills withoutreducing the greatest dimension of the opento less than the greatest dimension of the pills. When these conditions are met, except for highly irregular.

shapes, radially inward deflection effected by the forces F'will deform the passageway or opening 20 so that the 27 may move individually through the passageway.

into the "cavity 18.' It is, of course, necessary that the body 11 be inverted'so that the pillsmay pass through the'opening 20, by gravity. If the cap'25 remains on the body, it is only necessary to remove the cap and retrieve one or more pills from the cavity 18. The cavity 12 thus provides a storage cavity for the pills, while the cavity 18 provides a dispensing cavity;

While. the above described operating procedure requires only a minimum of dexterity, well within the powers of substantially all adults, the necessary simultaneous inversion, and application of a certain force at a certain pair of diametrically opposed points in the region of the passageway 20,.is sufiiciently complex to preclude operation by small children. That is, the forces F must be controlled so as to open ordistend the passageway 20 to its maximum while the body 11 is inverted, as insuflicicnt or excessive force, although at the right points and in the right direction, will improperly distort the opening 20 and not permit the passage therethrough of a pill 27.

From the foregoing, it is seen that the present invention provides a dispensing container which fully accomplishes its intended objects, and is well adapted to the practical conditions of manufacture and use.

Although the present invention has been described in some detail by way of illustration and example for purposes of clarity of understanding, it is understood that certain changes and modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A dispensing container for pills comprising an elongate body of resiliently deformable material, said body being formed adjacent to one end with a pill-storage cavity of an oblate conical internal configuration gradually decreasing in size in the direction away from said one body end toward and terminatingin an elongate transverse cross-sectional configuration of a length greater than the greatest dimension-of one of said pills and a width less than the smallest pill dimensions, sai d body being formed with a pill-dispensing cavity extending inwardly from its other end toward and terminating adjacent to and short of said storage cavity in an elongate transverse cross-sectional configuration substantially con gruent to and in alignment with the terminal crdsssectional configuration of said storage cavity, said body being formed with an internal passageway located between and opening into the adjacent terminal regions of said cavities and having a transverse cross-sectional configuration congruent to and in alignment witlrthe terminal cross-sectional configurations of said cavities, said body being of substantial wall thickness inthe region of said passageway adjacent to opposite ends of said elongate transverse cross-sectional configuration to efiectively prevent manual expansion of said body required for opening said passageway, manual compression of said body in the region of said passageway and in a direction to reduce the transverse length of said passageway serving to enlarge the width of said passageway sutficicnt to suc-.

cessively pass pills between said cavities.

2. A dispensing container according to claim 1, said body passageway having a transverse width so as to be normally open, to thereby insure that manual compression of said body in the approximate direction to reduce ,the transverse length of said passageway effects enlargement of the passageway width.

3. A dispensing container according to claim I, said body being of a generally cylindrical external configuration to provide said substantial wall thickness in the region of said passageway.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 820,897 Perotti May 22, 1906 1,859,397 Johnson et a1. May 24, 1932 1,889,232 Ware NOV. 29, 1932 2,670,884 Swarz Mar. 2, 1954 2,835,272 Taupin May 20, 1958 

